Colin Munro pulled his way to an entertaining 47-ball 70 as he engineered a comfortable seven-wicket victory for the Trinbago Knight Riders against Guyana Amazon Warriors just past midnight in the capital city of Port-of-Spain.

Already with scores of 66 not out and 41 to his name in the current Hero CPL season, the left-handed New Zealand batsman feasted on anything that was short-pitched from the Amazon seamers.

Photo: Trinbago Knight Riders opener Colin Munro dispatches a ball to the boundary during CPL action against Guyana Amazon Warriors on 11 August 2017.TKR won by seven wickets.(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)

Last year, the Kiwi batsman scored a blistering hundred against the visitors at the same Queen’s Park Oval venue and, last night, he started in menacing mood as he pumped the first ball of Sohail Tanvir’s second over to long-on for six.

The audacious shot brought Tanvir back down to the earth after the Warriors’ Pakistani left-arm seamer had swashbuckling Kiwi opener Brendon McCullum caught at point by Gajanand Singh off the first ball of the innings.

And there was another heave from Munro to end the third over—which went for 18 runs—that ended up just short of the Trini Posse section.

Watch out for those dancing girls, Colin!

TKR were clearly in a rush once again as they absolutely dominated the power play to rack up a score of 72 for 1. It was two better than their power play tally of 70 on Wednesday night and put the Warrior’s mark last night of 51/2—from Martin Guptill (24 off 14 balls) and Chadwick Walton (36 off 23 balls)—in the shade.

The Knight Riders’ South African all-rounder Robert Frylinck felt the brunt of the blows from Guptill—another Kiwi—and Walton as his solitary over went for 22 runs. But Mr Munro had the strongest armour last night and a few Guyanese supporters might have left the Oval sick to their stomachs.

By the time Munro got to his 50 off 23 balls, which equalled St Lucia Stars’ Darren Sammy for the fastest 50 in the fifth CPL edition thus far, he had already slowed his tempo to ensure that the hosts did not squander their momentum—as they had done on Wednesday night, when they only managed 38 for 7 in the second half of the innings.

In the end, Munro slammed five fours and five sixes with the occasional single in between.

The packed house at the Oval may have been calling for the head of Dwayne “DJ” Bravo if TKR let this one slip but, thankfully, the middle order gave a more responsible showing on this occasion.

“People make noise after the last game and say the fellahs throw away the game,” one spectator pointed out. “But if you know the result for every game, there wouldn’t be any excitement.”

There might have been a few doubts when Darren Bravo couldn’t get the ball off the square in the 11th over as Warriors’ teenaged spinner Rashid Khan managed a maiden.

But, importantly, TKR ensured that the tricky Khan went wicketless despite a tight spell which cost only 18 runs while their own Khan, Shadab, continued his excellent showing with the ball to grab 4/28 and jump to the top of the CPL wickets charts with eight scalps.

It meant Shadab—the young mystery spinner who already has two Man-of-the-Match awards to his name this season—was not required with the bat last night. Healthy partnerships between Munro and Sunil Narine (79 off 44 balls) and Munro and Denesh “Shotta” Ramdin (56 off 34 balls) got the hosts home with an over to spare.

Shotta, a former Warriors standout, might have told Munro to take a breather when he came to the crease, rattling off 42 in just 23 balls. He was especially harsh on his compatriot, Rayad Emrit, as he put the finishing touches on TKR’s victory with a flamboyant cut shot over backward point for six.

Talk nah!

Earlier in the proceedings, Guptill and Walton momentarily stunned the Knight Riders with a rollicking opening stand of 40. However, once Guptill went for one swing too many, Shadab put the squeeze on the Warriors with help from the economical pair of Narine (2/16) and Cooper (1/19).

Photo: Trinbago Knight Riders all-rounder Shadab Khan takes a return from the outfield during CPL T20 action against the Jamaica Tallawahs at the Queen’s Park Oval on 9 August 2017.The Tallawahs won by four wickets.(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-images/Wired868)

TKR skipper DJ Bravo didn’t exactly cover himself in glory, as his four overs cost 37 runs. However, his handling of the bowlers was excellent.

Bravo, Shadab, Munro and the rest of the TKR outfit will all have to be on h the ball from 9pm tonight when the big-hitting Keiron Pollard and the Barbados Tridents come to town.

Pollard, no mean performer at the Oval, already has scores of 83 and 62 to his name in CPL 2017 and will doubtless be looking to show Bravo, TKR and all Trinbago who is the real “Champion.”

“I done text Pollard already,” slurred one fan as he made his way out of the Oval, “and tell him don’t come down here with that chupidness.”

About Roneil Walcott

Roneil Walcott is an avid sports fan and freelance reporter with a BA in Mass Communication from COSTAATT. Roneil is a former Harvard and St Mary's College cricketer who once had lofty aspirations of bringing joy to sport fans with the West Indies team. Now, his mission is to keep them on the edge of their seats with sharp commentary from off the playing field.

Yh, from what I’ve read it’s done, the players will leave CPL in the next few days. Cricket West Indies have said they will pull any WI players out of PSL next year as a result, but they have no authority to do that as the players arent contracted centrally

I know that many will disagree but I am convinced that the Trinbago Knightriders need to change two things.
1. Although it has worked on occasions, I do not believe that converting Sunil Narine into a permanent opening batsman is a good idea. All that does is guarantee that a wicket will fall within the first 6 overs. Sunil goes at every ball regardless of its merit and will be much better suited for the lower order when that type of hitting is usually required.
2. It is time that Dwayne Bravo realises that he is not back to the form that he was prior to his injury and stop keeping himself to bowl the last over. Nine times out of ten he goes for too many runs which always puts the team in a bad position. At this stage he should bowl in the middle overs when the opposing team may be consolidating and not going hell bent for glory.
Just my opinion.

I agree. While it is T20 ,Narine for all good intentions is not an opening batsman, and as you correctly point out will either be out quickly as he likes to hit, last night being a bit of an exception but only after three games. Even in this form of the game some stability at the start is rquired. Dwayne Bravo if giving away too many runs simply do not bowl .

Right on the ball, I think, Neil. Well, maybe just off the mark on point one.

You see, if you get a quick 30 or 40 at the top of the order, it makes the task easier for the later batsmen. Ultimately, how many wickets you lose is of no consequence as long as you get a big score and utilise all 20 overs if you’re batting first.

To put it starkly, would you prefer, given that choice, that your side finish with 100 without loss or 200 all out? That’s it in a nutshell.

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